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Post by olddominion on Jun 19, 2008 1:12:31 GMT
Hey, I have a question about a swofd I recently purchased. This is my first sword, so bear with me. The sword is from Cold Steel and it's a basket hilt broadsword. When I received the sword half of the blade was sharpened, from about the middle of the blade to the hilt was left unsharpened. Is this typical or are swords sharpened all the way to the hilt? Also, why did I receive it from the manufacturer with only half of the blade sharpened? Your help is greatly appreciated.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 19, 2008 1:49:23 GMT
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 19, 2008 3:39:21 GMT
think of it as a really really big ricasso.
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Razor
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Today is tomorrow but not yet yesterday
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Post by Razor on Jun 19, 2008 5:27:00 GMT
The blade is divided in to two halves, "the forte" strong, close to the hilt and "the foible" weak the tip of the blade.
The forte is for defense and the foible is attacking.
I know from George Silver and the other British Masters that came after him, used the edge of the forte to block. So it wouldn't be uncommon to see so swords with a blunt forte. A blunt forte would make the blade stronger for blocks then an sharpen forte.
When I was learning how to use the Chinese dao, I was told that only the top 1/3 to 1/2 of the blade was sharp and the rest was to be unsharpened for blocking. To this day I don't sharpen no more then 2/3 of my blades.
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Post by Tom K. (ianflaer) on Jun 20, 2008 5:13:27 GMT
Olddominion, is this the horsman's or the scottish basket hilt? I've been eying those swords and I'd like an opinion on how they handle.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 20, 2008 13:38:48 GMT
you might want to give the company you bought it from a call, cold steel generally sharpens the entire length of the blade but as noted above they aren't consistent. If it doesn't bother you or you are willing to finish the job yourself then no big deal....also as noted above it is not historically incorrect to have only the first half or even third of the blade sharpened...
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Post by olddominion on Jun 20, 2008 23:47:26 GMT
;D
Thanks to all for your replies.
Razor, I agree with you.
I referred to Archibald MacGregor's Lecture on the Art of Defense 1791, and he stated pretty much the same thing as Razor.
Also, the sword I purchased is a Scottish Basket Hilt and I haven't had a chance to try it out as of yet.
Thanks again to all.
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